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Romania is a source, transit, and destination country for men and women subjected to forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking. Romanian men and women are subjected to forced labor in agriculture and manufacturing, as well as some forced begging in Spain, France, Italy and the Czech Republic. Men and women from Romania are victims of forced labor and prostitution.
The Research team conducted 10 interviews with victims of THB in the period December 2012-January 2013 in Oradea. The interviews that are presented in the National Rapport are traffic victims from the West part of Romania. The victims testimonials are usually difficult to obtain and most of the THB projects findings are based on national and international statistics.
These interviews were conducted by trained staff in a safe environment and, where it was possible, documented on audio tape and paper based. The THB cases can be registered in three sub-categories: THB for the purpose of sexual exploitation, THB for the purpose of labor exploitation and THB for other purposes. The cases that are presented, as stated before are numerated as Interview1, 2, 3 etc. in order to protect the victim's identity and these are their testimonials.
The interview-guide, which was designed could not be used because of the emotional state of the victims, therefore, the team members decided to have an "undedifferential " interview structured like an open discussion. The result is an article consisting in ten interviews of victims' testimonies and their understanding of the phenomenon of THB.

As Cuba enters 2022, economic crisis and social tensions loom large. This chapter reviews the external difficulties that interact with and reinforce the island's domestic issues. Looking beyond the immediate situation it reflects on underlying international pressures and constraints that will shape the options for the Cuban nation over the next decade. Its analysis encompasses Cuba's relations with the US and with the EU, as well as those with Venezuela, Mexico, China, Russia and Canada, and it asks to what extent Cuban-made COVID-19 vaccines can re-boost the country's soft-power projection. Putting the Cuban case in comparative perspective, the island's regime - and its international profile - are in many ways still unlike any other, and predictive schemas based on false analogies risk being misleading.

Die Literatur zur Säkularisierung schwankt zwischen zwei Ansprüchen und Versuchen: Es werden entweder Alternativen zur Säkularisierung oder alternative Konzeptionen der Säkularisierung gesucht. Der vorliegende Beitrag klärt zunächst, was säkulare Staaten bzw. Gesellschaften von denen unterscheidet, die sich explizit nicht als säkularisiert verstehen, und welche alternativen Gesellschaftskonzeptionen die letzteren anbieten. Nachdem der Autor die Vor- und Nachteile beider Gesellschaftsformation gegeneinander abgewogen hat, thematisiert er die Differenzen aus einer Perspektive der politischen Theologie im Sinne einer "guten und gerechten" Gesellschaft. Sind hier säkulare Gesellschaften generell überlegen oder können "theokratische" Regime nicht auch Merkmale aufweisen, die - vor allem unter dem Gesichtspunkt gesellschaftlicher Integration - vorzuziehen sind? Der Autor spielt am Beispiel der indischen Gesellschaften Pro und Contra der Argumente durch. Als Fazit der Ausführungen erweist sich Indien als eine Version der Säkularisierung und moderne Alternative zur westlichen Welt, von der sowohl Orient als auch Okzident lernen können. (ICA)

"Chinas Energiesicherheit kann nur in einer internationalen Politik erreicht werden, die der Globalisierung Rechnung trägt und nach ökonomischen Maßstäben verfasst ist. Die internationale Gemeinschaft sollte um des Friedens Willen großes Interesse an Chinas Energiesicherheit und politischer Kooperation haben." (Autorenreferat)

Rapid climate change is exposing subsistence farmers to enormous challenges, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several foreign aid programs have been set up to cope with these issues, many of which have focused on technical solutions. However, there seems to be a large gap between scientific research and the needs of local communities. Besides focusing on new ways to improve the resilience of local food production, there is also an urgent need to adapt available knowledge to the local context. Based on experiences from a project to co-create community networks in Togo in 2020, we aim to empower local stakeholders, including farmers and scientists, to adapt existing knowledge of sustainable crop farming to current practices. New modes of knowledge exchange can be established with the help of participatory design. These methods may help to foster a collective approach to learning that enables people to cope with global challenges on a local level, all while valuing the traditional practices of local farmers and enriching them with scientific knowledge.

The situation, development lines and perspectives of small and medium-sized towns in Germany and France are compared and similarities and differences within the central place systems and the spatial planning of both countries are discussed. With different approaches to definition, these towns have received new attention in both countries in recent years, albeit with different focal points. The discussion covers the positions and lines of development of these towns in the respective central place systems; the perspectives of their future development regarding the strengthening of central place functions, their attractiveness as residential and economic locations, and contexts of rural regional development and services of general interest. In addition, aspects of research on small and medium-sized towns as well as approaches to spatial policy in both countries are addressed.

In early 2017, after the nomination of Martin Schulz as candidate for chancellor, the SPD experienced a rapid surge in public support as measured in public opinion polls. Yet, the upward trend proved short-lived and the SPD ended up with the worst election result since 1949. Using data from a multi-wave panel survey, this analysis examines the voting trajectories of eight thousand German citizens over the course of one year in order to investigate the processes underlying the so called 'Schulz effect'. The voter trajectories show that the surge and decline of public support for the SPD was accompanied by some reshuffling in the composition of its electorate. Moreover, different explanations of the party's swaying in the polls are tested, showing that the SPD achieved the activation of dormant party identifiers but attracted and then lost other voters with diverse characteristics and policy preferences.

"Verschiedene Ansätze zur Energiesicherheit, wie strategische/ geopolitische Faktoren oder die regulierenden Kräfte des Marktes, sollten nicht als sich gegenseitig ausschließend betrachtet werden, sondern vielmehr als komplementäre Strategien." (Autorenreferat)

Das Konzept der "Zivilgesellschaft" ist für den Autor ein fruchtbarer Ausgangspunkt für transkulturelle Dialoge bzw. Diskurse. An diesem Konzept wird jedoch moniert, dass ihm ein posttraditionales Telos zugrunde liegt und es daher in eine "posttraditionale Theologie" transformiert werden sollte. Am Beispiel der indischen Geschichte, Gesellschaft und Kultur wird dann gezeigt, wie ein nicht modernistisches Konzept einer Zivilgesellschaft aussehen könnte. Die Zivilgesellschaft ist aus dieser Sicht nicht nur der Ort deliberativer Politik (wie in den westlichen Konzeptionen), sondern auch ein "Raum des Zuhörens, der Kultivierung der Stille und der Transzendierung der Polarität von privat/öffentlich durch den Einzelnen". Der Kern der Zivilgesellschaft liegt für den Autor im Konzept der Selbstentwicklung sowohl auf individueller als auch auf institutioneller Ebene. Prinzipiell werden dabei die alten (europäischen) Dualismen im Sinne des buddhistischen Zusammenfallens der Gegensätze und Widersprüche unterlaufen. (ICA)

"Post-conflict reconstruction is understood as a complex system that provides for simultaneous short-, medium- and long-term programmes to prevent disputes from escalating, avoid a relapse into violent conflict and to build and consolidate sustainable peace. Post-conflict reconstruction is ultimately aimed at addressing the root causes of a conflict and to lay the foundations for social justice and sustainable peace. Post-conflict reconstruction systems proceed through three broad phases, namely the emergency phase, the transition phase and the development phase; however, they should not be understood as absolute, fixed, time-bound or having clear boundaries. Post-conflict reconstruction systems have five dimensions: (1) security; (2) political transition, governance and participation; (3) socio-economic development; (4) human rights, justice and reconciliation; and (5) coordination, management and resource mobilisation. These five dimensions need to be programmed simultaneously, collectively and cumulatively to develop momentum to sustainable peace. While there are processes, phases and issues that can be said to be common to most countries emerging from conflict, one should recognise the uniqueness of each conflict system, in terms of its own particular socioeconomic and political history, the root causes and immediate consequences of the conflict an the specific configuration of the actors that populate the system. Further, as most intra-state conflicts in Africa are interlinked within regional conflict systems, country specific post-conflict reconstruction systems need to seek synergy with neighbouring systems to ensure coherence across regional conflict systems. The nexus between development, peace and security have become a central focus of post-conflict reconstruction thinking and practice over the last decade. The key policy tension in the post-conflict setting appears to be between economic efficiency and political stability. While the need and benefits of improved coherence is widely accepted, there seems to be no consensus on who should coordinate, what should be coordinated and how coordination should be undertaken." (author's abstract)